The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham: Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers. Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram. Ram begot Amminadab, Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon. Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David the king. David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah. Solomon begot Rehoboam, Rehoboam begot Abijah, and Abijah begot Asa. Asa begot Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat begot Joram, and Joram begot Uzziah. Uzziah begot Jotham, Jotham begot Ahaz, and Ahaz begot Hezekiah. Hezekiah begot Manasseh, Manasseh begot Amon, and Amon begot Josiah. Josiah begot Jeconiah and his brothers about the time they were carried away to Babylon. And after they were brought to Babylon, Jeconiah begot Shealtiel, and Shealtiel begot Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel begot Abiud, Abiud begot Eliakim, and Eliakim begot Azor. Azor begot Zadok, Zadok begot Achim, and Achim begot Eliud. Eliud begot Eleazar, Eleazar begot Matthan, and Matthan begot Jacob. And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ. So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, from David until the captivity in Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are fourteen generations. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name Jesus. Matthew 1:1-25
It is very easy for us simply to gloss over passages like this. As we read Matthew’s Gospel, we do not come across many references to Abraham or David. When it comes to David, Jesus merely asked the Jews if they were not aware that David, when he was hungry, had entered the temple and eaten the showbread that it was only lawful for the priests to eat (see Matthew 12:3-4). Nevertheless, I think there is an extremely important significance for us to the fact that we find the words, “the Son of David, the Son of Abraham” at the beginning of Matthew’s Gospel.
Through the Old Testament, we can see very clearly how God, over a long period of time, spoke and made promises to Abraham and to David in regard to His plan to have the Messiah born into this world. Then there is the matter of how Jesus Christ is revealed to us through the lives of these two men.
If you look at the genealogy in Matthew chapter 1, you will find that from David, the first king, to the time when the Israelites were taken captive to Babylon, all the names that appear are those of kings. Nevertheless, David is the only one referred to here as a king: “Jesse begot David the king.”
If we read the Bible verse by verse, considering only the importance of each one individually, there are many times when we forget about the order of events in the general flow of the Bible as a whole. I consider the order of the genealogy recorded in Matthew chapter 1 to be of great importance. It begins with the words, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham,” and there follows forty-two generations. Now let’s take a look at what comes after that. In verse 16, it says,
And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ.
The names of the people within this brief passage (beginning with, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham,” and continuing until it says, “And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ”) and the events these people encountered all put together appear in the thirty-nine books that make up the Old Testament. There are, of course, some amongst these people who are not mentioned in the Bible in detail, but within the flow of events recorded in these books, there are many accounts of Jesus’ ancestors.
If you look at the genealogy in Luke’s Gospel chapter 3, however, you will find that it begins with Jesus and works backwards. It goes all the way back to Abraham, and then further, right back to Adam. And then it says, “the son of God” (verse 38). This is how it is recorded in Luke’s Gospel, so you may wonder why it is that in Matthew’s Gospel, on the other hand, the genealogy begins with Abraham and goes through to David, and then from David on, there is a genealogy of kings. Various questions may arise from the content of the genealogy in Matthew chapter 1.
Before we proceed to find out about Jesus Christ, there is something else we need to know. This is the matter of how the nation of Israel began. At Christmas time, people sing the carol that contains the words, “Joy to the world! The Lord is come.” They also sing “Jingle Bells,” and take delight in the season. Yet, there are not many people who stop to think about the origin of the man by the name of Abraham who appears here in Matthew’s Gospel, the beginnings of the nation of Israel which gave birth to Jesus, and what the history of Israel has to do with them personally. They simply rejoice in the birth of Jesus. They consider Jesus according to man’s standards and merely think that He was laid in a humble manger. As we gradually come to know the Old Testament, however, we are able to see in detail who Jesus was, this young man who appeared later in the New Testament.
In Genesis chapter 3, we read how Adam ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and because of this sin, God cursed him. To the serpent who had tempted Eve into eating the fruit, God said, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed” (verse 15). Here it says “the woman.” Those who do not know the Bible well will probably think that “the woman” here is Eve, since Eve was the only woman that existed at that time. Those who know a little more about the Bible, may say, “The woman is Mary.” Of course, the Seed of the woman might be understood as someone who is born to a particular woman. This is talking about a Person who would be born through the body of a woman who had had no physical relationship with a man, a Person who was born without having inherited sin.
The issue I would like to address, however, is what exactly God had in mind when He said “the woman” here, at this time when there were only Adam and Eve, and this demands a more careful examination of the Old Testament.
To take this conversation in a slightly different direction, in another part of the Bible we come across another woman. When we go in search of a certain woman in the New Testament, we find the image of the bride who is predestined to be united as one body with Christ Jesus—the main character in the Bible. In the letter to the Ephesians and the letter to the Colossians, it says that this was predestined not after but before the creation of this world, before this world had even begun, when nothing existed and man had not been formed. At that time, God had it in his heart to prepare this body. This is not the predestination advocated by Calvin. This is the predestination of the Church. The Church is not a building that people enter and leave; the Church is the aggregate of all those who have been born again since the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost after Jesus had risen from the dead and ascended into heaven.
As we see through the New Testament how God’s plan for the Church is hidden away within the Old Testament, we may ask what the position of the Jews is, what the nation of Israel is, and is Israel the Church? In Genesis chapter 3, we see how Adam sinned in eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and God said to the serpent that He would put enmity between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. After that, in chapter 4, we read how Eve gave birth to Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the Lord” (verse 1). Is Cain the Seed of the woman of which God had spoken? Definitely not. Cain killed his younger brother and became a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth.
As we continue to read the Bible, we come to the man by the name of Abraham. And we find that Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Esau and Jacob, and Jacob received the birthright in the place of Esau and begot children. The nation that gradually emerged in this way is Israel.
The name of Israel came later when it was given to Jacob after he wrestled with the Angel of the Lord. Through the Bible, however, we can see that God decided on, and predestined the nation of Israel and revealed His plan in this regard after man disobeyed God and ate the forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
The predestination of Israel is completely different from the predestination of the Church. God designated this one nation in order to bring man back from his fate that had come about as a result of Adam’s sin, and it was His plan that Christ should be born within that nation.
In the Old Testament—especially when we read through the books of the prophets beginning with Isaiah and proceeding to Jeremiah and Ezekiel—we find the nation of Israel expressed at times as a virgin, at times as a woman who has turned away from her husband and engaged in a life of dissipation, and at times as a bride. Then in Revelation chapter 12, it talks about “a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth” (verse 1-2). If we are not careful, it is easy for us to say that this woman is Mary, but if we read these passages carefully, we can see clearly that the woman who appears in them is an image of Israel.
Since we live within a brief span of time and are in the habit of judging everything by what we can see in front of our eyes, it is difficult to understand God’s plan as it appears in the book of Genesis. It is because we have the entire Bible and are able to read both the Old and New Testaments that we are able to understand this; if we had not been given all the books from Exodus to Revelation, there is no way that we would be able to know the will of God just by reading Genesis. As we read about Abraham as he appears in the book of Genesis and the promises and commands that God gave him, they may see to be connected merely to the relationship between God and this one individual, so we may be curious as to how these things appeared later in a historical sense.
Abraham, and the Beginning of the History of Israel
Within the history flows from the very beginning of Genesis, there is a man by the name of Noah. Noah had three sons. One of them was called Ham, and Ham made a mistake. It was not such a big thing that he did, and he did not do it intentionally. One day after the flood had come to an end, Ham went into his father’s tent and found him lying there sleeping naked. I do not know why, but Ham went outside and told his two brothers that his father wa
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